March 29, 2012

There's a human rights complaint against Earls Albino Rhino beer.

"Ikponwosa (I.K.) Ero of Vancouver has alleged to the B.C. Human Rights Tribunal that the name singles out people like her who suffer from albinism, the absence of pigment from the skin, hair and eyes."
It's a medical condition, not a taste treat, Ero argues.

"You go into a restaurant and someone says, 'Can I get a palsy? Give me a palsy,'" she said. "And what it stands for is a cerebral palsy cocktail. I don't think that would fly well at all with anybody with cerebral palsy, or their families, who have to live with the condition.

"So how does it work, in [the case of albinism] that you can market food with a medical condition?"
And how does it work, that you go from believing a product is poorly named to believing human rights are violated
Ero, who was born in Nigeria, said in her complaint that in Africa ablinos [sic] are often targeted for ritualistic murder.... The threat of persecution was one of the reasons she and her family fled to Canada when she was a teenager.
You came to Canada for liberty and you became an agent of repression. But that's your idea of liberty, controlling others.

That reminds me, at the Supreme Court oral argument yesterday, the Solicitor General ended his woeful week by talking about freedom: With all the new compulsions and coercions of Obamacare, "millions of people with chronic conditions like diabetes and heart disease... will be unshackled from the disabilities that those diseases put on them and have the opportunity to enjoy the blessings of liberty."

In the words of Bob Zimmerman:
Ah, my friends from the prison, they ask unto me
“How good, how good does it feel to be free?”
And I answer them most mysteriously
“Are birds free from the chains of the skyway?”
In the words of the U.S. Supreme Court Justice Kennedy — who will decide the Obamacare case singlehandedly, as the pundits tell it, but who wrote this along with Justices O'Connor and Souter:
At the heart of liberty is the right to define one's own concept of existence, of meaning, of the universe, and of the mystery of human life.
Raise a glass of Earls Albino Rhino to liberty!

40 comments:

Lyssa said...

Is the complaintant a rhino? Seems like only Albino Rhinos should have standing on this one.

edutcher said...

Good one, Lyssa.

Yeah, some people really need to get a life.

And a clue.

Tim said...

"But that's your idea of liberty, controlling others."

Yes, and as yesterday's discussion of the ACA before the USSC indicates, so too is it the idea of liberty for the solicitor general and other supporters of big, expansive, ever-growing, ever-bankrupt government.

I hope this is not news.

rhhardin said...

You came to Canada for liberty and you became an agent of repression. But that's your idea of liberty, controlling others.

They're just responding to incentives as is easily predicted.

The government put the incentives there.

If your feelings are hurt, you can get money for it.

So people try to get money for it.

That's not even considering the incentives inside government.

Lucien said...

I see they strategically put an "h" in Rhino to avoid being sued by Republicans In Name Only, so why not switch to "Albinho" too?

I Love Delirium Tremens (Belgian) & suggest you try it whenever given the opportunity. I've seen Arrogant Bastard around, but haven't tried it. (I suppose renaming it "Hubristic person born out of wedlock" would wreak havoc on the label printers.)

rhhardin said...

Rhino is the hippopotamus term for a river horse in name only.

traditionalguy said...

The Starbucks guys are selling a "blonde coffee" now. I suppose that is coffee not burnt in the Starbucks usual roast methods.

I think all oppressed non-brunettes need to file a class action.

I wouldn't go so far as to call it a Human Rights " violation. That would require the Plaintiff prove blondes are human. Everyone knows the are super human and also have more fun.

(Just kidding, Edutcher)

Doc Holliday's Hat said...

Albino Rhino is a shameful name. It's not even a witbier! It's a Pale Ale. Horribly misleading. I think we need to revisit Carbolic Smoke Ball on this.

Rockeye said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Rockeye said...

Won't anyone think of the tree rats, er, squirrels? New Glarus Brewery right here in Wisconsin is marketing a severely sizist abomination called "Fat Squirrel." In fact I think that beer needs to be disposed of. One bottle at a time, of course.
http://www.newglarusbrewing.com/index.cfm/beers/ourbeers/beer/fat-squirrel

Lyssa said...

I was going to file a complaint against whoever first came up with the drink "Redhead Slut," but then someone reminded me that truth is a defense . . .

(it's a joke, ya'll)

Anonymous said...

"millions of people with chronic conditions like diabetes and heart disease... will be unshackled from the disabilities that those diseases put on them and have the opportunity to enjoy the blessings of liberty."

And will then be, along with everyone else, shackled to the whims and dictates of a federal government which is fatally subject to bribery, cronyism, coercion, human ambition and passion, and corruption.

I really can not make this point too strongly, Obamacare proponents are making a very, very dangerous argument.

There are so many that are willing to grant you local freedom if you'll hand over your universal freedom.

LordSomber said...

Good thing they don't use the Irish to market things. We're a sensitive lot.

Wince said...

I guess nobody asked the albino guy who goes by the name The Albino Rhino Beer Reviewer what he thinks.

MadisonMan said...

They wanted to call it Earls White Rhino, but the Blacks would have complained.

I'm not even mentioning the missing apostrophe.

Paddy O said...

Finally someone else understands what stout-Americans have been dealing with for a while.

Euphemisms for obesity is no drinking matter!

ricpic said...

"Are birds free from the chains of the skyway?"

The Bob Zimmerman lyrics are idiocy. Followed to their logical conclusion there is no freedom because every creature is chained to the rules of its environment and its nature. But common sense tells us the caged bird and the flying bird do not share the same state of being.

SGT Ted said...

"You go into a restaurant and someone says, 'Can I get a palsy? Give me a palsy,'" she said.

Yea and no one appointed you the Beer Name Police. You're NOT a rhino. No one cares how sensitive you are.

What law made YOUR sensibilities and desires paramount over other peoples? Oh thats right, there isn't one. So, just shut the fuck up. The pretentions of moral superiority by people who wallow in victimhood like this continues to disgust.

Someone needs to invent a Bacardi 151 drink called the Cerebral Palsy.

Swifty Quick said...

Now entering the bell lap in the race to victimhood. Everyone is a contender.

Anonymous said...

But common sense tells us the caged bird and the flying bird do not share the same state of being.

I think the point is: pick your cage.

Do you want to throw off the cage of self-restraint regarding drinking and driving?

Then you are implicitly pining for the cage of prison, paralysis, and life-long sorrow.

Or as Bishop Fulton J. Sheen said, “We would not accept the yoke of Christ; so now we must tremble at the yoke of Caesar.”

karrde said...

@traditionalguy,

I had a Blonde Pickaxe Beer once. (From a local brewery in the Keweenaw area of Michigan.) I've never heard of any complaints from women of pale hair color.

@rhhardin,

You may have confused Rhinoceros for Hippopotamus. One of them lives on land and has a noteworthy horn on its nose. The other lives in water, and is without horns.

SGT Ted said...

This is the problem with what non-Americans think are "human rights".

What they are calling a "human right" is inherently censorship and they think that there is a "right" to censor what others say, if someone takes offense and complains about it, but only for designated "victims". Designated Oppressors don't have those censorship "rights".

So, they aren't really talking about "human rights". They are talking about employing Governments to enforce totalitarian speech controls on some of the population, at the behest of another, more favored part of the population.


Hate speech" laws that are only deployable by browned skinned people to use against whites are in the same category.

Leftists tend to like that sort of "human rights" because it is merely a weapon used to shut critics up and maintain social control.

CWJ said...

Sgt Ted @10:05

This is in Canada, not the US. So actually the law may in fact grant her the right to be the beer police. This is the same tribunal that tried Mark Steyn a couple of years ago. I think they failed to convict him only because they realized he would continue to hold them up to ridicule if they did. The Ontario version was a bit more "nuanced.". They declined to try Steyn, but then publicly declared him guilty anyway. It will all come down to how strongly the brewer wants to put up a fight. IOW, the people behind these tribunals are both bullies AND cowards.

SGT Ted said...

This is in Canada, not the US. So actually the law may in fact grant her the right to be the beer police.

Yea, thats why I said that what non-Americans call "human rights" aren't that at all. They are just another means for social control and policing non-leftwing speech.

cubanbob said...

That is the difference between having a charter of positive rights versus having a charter of negative rights. Canada isn't America.

Clyde said...

"Lighten up, Francis."

Or Ero, as the case may be.

Synova said...
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Known Unknown said...

Unlike this loser, Albino Rhinos have thick skins.

Synova said...

I can certainly sympathize with the horrors of being an albino in Nigeria, but Canada and it's "human rights" thing has so jumped the shark that it's not even funny.

As for freeing diabetics and heart patients from the shackles that keep them from enjoying freedom...

I have a solution. If you've got a chronic disease, become a ward of the state. Then you'll be "free", and the rest of us can stay "free" the other way.

Why make *everyone* a ward of the state in order to "free" a few?

CWJ said...

SGT Ted

We're on the same page. But cut me a little slack. I was referring to your first post and your second post had not yet appeared when I started composing my comment. Its just a case of crosstalk. So sorry.

holdfast said...

To be clear, this pathetic complaint wouldn't be under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms (part of the Canadian Constitution) - as flawed as that document is, like its US counterpart, it is about the citizen-government relationship, not the relationship between the citizen and moderately-priced, formerly trendy dining establishments. That would be under one of the various provincial Human Rights Acts, which are, fortunately, merely ordinary legislation and subject to amendment or repeal.

Now I think I'll get a beer from Subcontinent that has been frightened so all the color drained from its face.

bgates said...

You came to Canada for liberty

There's the mistake right there.

Other potentially offensive food and beverage names:
-blackened catfish
-shaved ice
-Canadian club (for congenital talipes equinovarus sufferers)

Saint Croix said...

At the heart of liberty is the right to define one's own concept of existence, of meaning, of the universe, and of the mystery of human life.

What sweet poetry the Supreme Court uses when it talks about abortion. And yet it's such vapid horseshit, too.

For instance, we don't define the universe. God does.

The universe exists apart from us. As other people exist apart from us.

We don't get to define other people out of existence.

That quote is the problem with Casey, with Roe, in a nutshell.

The Supreme Court actually thinks they can define away a baby using words.

With that quote, the Supreme Court invites us to play God. And we're supposed to believe this is the heart of liberty?

Humanity is merely a concept to them. Life is merely a concept to them.

The Casey opinion is like poetry from a sociopath.

I prefer to quote from Carhart, which is a brutally honest abortion opinion.

Because the fetus is larger at this stage of gestation (particularly the head), and because bones are more rigid, dismemberment or other destructive procedures are more likely to be required...

Apparently "the mystery of human life" involves human dismemberment.

KLDAVIS said...

Before it was a beer, it was a wine...an Albariño, appropriately enough.

cubanbob said...

Would I be arrested in BC by the PC Police if I ordered a Black and Tan?

n.n said...

That's an excellent synopsis of intellectual liberty. I would add that a useful criteria to judge each individual's faith or philosophy is by the principles it engenders.

As for albino rhinos, they exist. If there isn't already a non-profit or NGO to protect the rights of albino rhinos, then there should be. We cannot permit albino humans from arbitrarily discriminating against their rhino counterparts.

In any case, if "Earls Albino Rhino beer" is popular, then I am certain that its namesake will be honored by the recognition... and seek to recover royalties on its sales.

Revenant said...

For instance, we don't define the universe. God does.

I don't want to get into another boring theological debate -- but you misread the quoted passage. He didn't say "define the universe". He said "define one's own concept [...] of the universe".

The right to define one's own concept of the universe is why you're allowed to believe God created it, and I'm allowed to believe he didn't. In the absence of that right, you could have me imprisoned for blasphemy.

Saint Croix said...

The right to define one's own concept of the universe is why you're allowed to believe God created it, and I'm allowed to believe he didn't.

You're missing the point. There is a universe. It is defined. It's reality. You want to redefine it, call it something else, okay. But you're not actually redoing the universe.

The power of humanity to do so is limited.

You agree you are not God, yes?

The reason the passage is such horseshit is that it's talking about existence as if we are the author of it. Like we're writing a book. And while that may be poetic, it's also insane.

There is a reality outside of our will. And it does not matter if you think there is no God. You must recognize that you did not create that reality. You do not have that power.

Playing God is a danger for us all.

stutefish said...

"You go into a restaurant and someone says, 'Can I get a palsy? Give me a palsy,'" she said. "And what it stands for is a cerebral palsy cocktail."

Shut up and take my money.

Saint Croix said...

I would not object to the quote if this was a creative writing class. I might even applaud it.

But it's an abortion opinion.

What he's saying is, you have the authority to define whether the baby is a baby or nothing at all. Human life is merely a concept. An idea.

You say "baby"? Then, like magic, the blob of tissue becomes a baby.

You say "blob of tissue"? Then, like magic, the baby becomes a blob of tissue.

You can go back and forth as you make your choice. Blob of tissue. Baby. No, wait, blob of tissue. No, baby, baby, I want a baby. Blob of tissue.

Since we are not in a creative writing class, but our obstetrician's office, this is an obscene discussion.

Pregnancy is pregnancy. It's a reality that is outside of our will. There is a truth that exists, independent of us. We're not making this shit up as we go. We're not the author of life.

We do not get to remove characters, turn the boys into girls, give her cancer in the first act and discover a cure in the third act.

The Supreme Court in Casey is not describing reality, or even attempting to describe reality. It's saying we have absolute power over reality. Reality is merely a concept to us, the God-like beings who murder babies and give humanity to blobs of tissue.